How to Safely Celebrate Thanksgiving With Your Pet

Learning the Hard Way: Tryon’s Thanksgiving Pet Safety Lessons

Hi there, my name is Tryon! My humans named me after Fort Tryon Park, but usually they just call me their very good boy.

Do you guys want to hear about the best day ever? OK, so maybe it had a few snags. But I pretty much had the best meal of my life, so I’d call it a win. My family and my friends at Inwood Animal Clinic like to call this a cautionary tale, but I’ll let you decide for yourself.

Here’s what happened last Thanksgiving, and all the things I’ve learned about Thanksgiving pet safety since then.

The turkey

There it was, within reach on the table: A beautiful, golden hunk of meat. Intoxicated by the smell and without thinking, I jumped onto a chair and snatched a leg from the platter. Was I supposed to just leave it there? No self-respecting dog would do such a thing.

Well, I found out the hard way that turkey with skin is a fatty food that can make your pancreas unhappy. I didn’t even know I had a pancreas, but I certainly do now. The stuffing isn’t meant for dogs either, since garlic and onions are bad news, according to the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center.

If food tastes so good, how can it be bad? I’m still not sure. If you want to follow the humans’ rules while sharing Thanksgiving foods with your pup, boneless, skinless meat is best—not the whole turkey carcass.

The pie

After eating the turkey, I had a craving for something sweet. Someone dumped a whole can of pumpkin into a crust and called it pumpkin pie, but I call it my favorite baked good. I found out later that it was a good thing I couldn’t reach the desserts. My owner baked the pie and cookies with something called xylitol, an artificial sweetener Aunt Susie puts in all her sugar-free things. Xylitol is very toxic to us dogs. I’ll take the real sugar, thanks.

I found out that chocolate, raisins, and bread dough are also off-limits. I don’t really understand the classification system, so it’s a good thing I have my humans to help me sort it out. My human checked to see what would make me sick and kept that out of my bowl.

The guests

Thanksgiving means houseguests, and I love when people come over! They pet me, drop snacks, and smell like so many interesting things. Sometimes when they open the door, I run out to greet them. It’s a good thing I’m microchipped, which is like this cool get-out-of-jail-free card.

Anywho, when I ran out this time, I guess I knocked over some holiday decorations and a nearby lit candle. Apparently, this was a Thanksgiving pet safety no-no, so I had to stand behind the baby gate for a few hours after that. I guess that was OK too, since I got some green beans for being a good boy in my “pet-safe space.”

The trash can

Later that night, the humans let me out while they watched TV. They must have been really sleepy, because they left the garbage can by the door. They say one man’s trash is a dog’s greatest treasure—right? I couldn’t help myself, and I went for it, chomping down some tasty turkey bones and something really chewy soaked in turkey grease. I’m telling you guys, it was truly the best day.

The emergency room

A few hours later, I got this terrible belly pain. A bunch of the turkey, pie, and trash came back up on the rug. (Oops—sorry, mom!) When my people found me breaking the Thanksgiving pet safety rules, they seemed really upset. Since I didn’t feel good, off we went to Inwood Animal Clinic.

The vet took some pictures of my belly and some of my blood for “testing.” A few hours later, when I felt better, we got to go home. They said I was lucky I just had a mild case of pancreatitis, and not an intestinal blockage. My humans even bought me some food they called a “bland diet” to celebrate the good news.

Lessons learned

Holidays like Thanksgiving are the best days of the year, paws down. But I learned my lessons for Thanksgiving. Just yesterday, I heard my mom talking about making me a special plate with white turkey meat, boiled sweet potatoes, and steamed green beans, so I’m not tempted to raid the table. That sounds good to me—I can do without another emergency vet visit!

Don’t get me wrong—I love the Inwood Animal Clinic. They always give me treats and scratch me behind my ears in just the right spot, so I don’t usually mind visiting. I like seeing them more when I don’t feel so crummy. If your family needs a new place to take you for shots or a lesson in Thanksgiving pet safety, contact my favorite clinic!

Tryon out!